you know if if one Hindu kills a Muslim
you don't go out and find any Hindu to
kill them right that's there's people
that do that you know one one part of
the group does something to another part
so they go find anybody from that group
that's transgression this is not justice
as vengeance the difference between
justice and vengeance and then it says
when in sabar to the whole Hyrule is
sobbing but if you're patient it's
better to show patients you know it's
better then if you then redressing the
wrong then you know going on but then it
says while spitting you know you be
patient
so like the OMA it said you know if you
want to redress your wrongs do it but be
just in it but it's better to be patient
but then it says but you prophets all
I'd assume you have to be patient you
don't have an option here because he's
the exemplars and the exemplar has to
embody the highest example and that's
why the prophets um when he looked at
people he did not look at them with
contempt nobody
he had no contempt for people he had no
kibbe there was no pride in his heart
when the man said to him he asked him
about the sandals and and he said you
know I love to wear nice sandals and I
like a nice shirt is that Eric
the Prophet said in a lodge Emilia
Benjamin God is beautiful and he loves
Beauty in other words the thing that you
love the fact that you like beautiful
sandals what you really love is the
thing that Allah loves you love that
attribute of that thing that is is a
reflection of a divine attribute which
is beauty that Allah is beautiful so
when you love beauty you're loving the
the reflection the divine reflection of
God's beauty in the world that's what
you're really attracted to and he was
acknowledging that that that's not a bad
thing it's a good thing because Allah
knows that thing that's why he made that
thing that's why he brought Beauty into
the world because Allah is beautiful and
your acknowledgment of that beauty is
your recognition of that attribute in
the world that's what you're attracted
to it's it's the beauty of Allah that's
manifesting in that thing that's what
you're attracted to but then he
explained what Kippur was what arrogance
was he said well a candle kibbe butter
will help will humbleness arrogance is
to reject the truth when it's presented
to you and it's to have contempt for
people people Nass people is to have
contempt for people I'm Dana
it was called cuthbun and amar it's
inside Bihari it's in Sinai and it was
only described as the red dune like
there was a dune over it like a red sand
did I answer that or not somebody sent
something up I think
where is Nineveh in the modern world
Nineveh is Mosul in Iraq it's a it's
having a lot of trouble right now yeah
you know I heard it from a well-known
share that Allah has made it forbidden
for the earth to take the bodies of the
prophets and that their flesh is still
fresh in their graves
how is this supposed to be understood
well I mean first of all the it's a
hadith the Prophet said avocado had said
that NBA the earth doesn't eat the
prophets but that's also that's not
that's a Catholic belief as well I mean
the Catholics actually one of the signs
of sanctification is that the bodies
aren't there called incorrigibles and
the Vatican is filled with those bodies
from from Saints that there was an
interesting article and discovery about
they let scientists go and examined the
bodies in in in the Vatican and it's
worth reading the article because a
couple of the scientists just were
flabbergasted so a lot of the bodies
were actually mummified because the
Pope's would they'd be a little worried
that they would get their flesh would
get corrupted so they'd have make sure
that they were mummified afterwards but
some of them weren't and there was one
fifth century Saint is like a patron
saint of prostitutes she was a
that had Toba and she became a saint and
but the one of the scientists just said
that like he was just amazed at the
preservation of the body he just like it
really floored him now I saw when I was
12 years old and I was went to a Greek
Orthodox summer camp in Greece I
actually visited the island of Zakynthos
and and there was a st. George Wright
who I'm I wonder if it's a Jew Age in
the story of the prophets eyes him where
they built the church for him but we saw
his body which is open to air it's
completely intact I mean I saw it with
my own eyes so you know incorrigibles
are they exist in the world
there's there's bodies that have not and
they're not mummified there's bodies
that were mummified but there's also
bodies that just have not been eaten by
the earth so that's that's not that's
not a you know that's a that's a reality
that's even accepted by the secular
world I mean they have their
explanations for it you know they think
it was the in that anyway that article
talks about why they think they were
preserved but still their preserves are
there for people to see even Medgar
Evers
when they exhumed his body in 1992 I
think he was killed in 62 61 when they
exhumed his body in 1992 it was
completely intact
so Medgar Evers a civil rights activist
hmm yeah he was shot in the back mm-hmm
Oh
guy was just reading from this book is a
commentary of the boertie by an Egyptian
share named Hassan and AD will hams away
it's a shot hello portable Syria yeah
it's very interesting I just suddenly
gave it to me a couple months ago or
last month could you please clarify what
you said about the maraj being a vision
for the Prophet does this mean that his
seeing the other prophet in being in the
divine presence and receiving the prayer
was not in his physical body no he was
definitely in his physical body when he
met the prophets also his the the ascent
through he did go through the malakut is
different from the mullick and i don't
know you know
the monk is what we're in here this is
the mulk the Mallicoat is is it's the
realm of the angels and then you have
the jaw borrowed so you there are
different rounds and the realms are not
the same like we're in a fixed physical
world where time-space affects us you
know if we if you know I'll bump into
the wall I'll hurt myself but there's
other worlds that are very different
from this world and the prophets eyes
have entered in to those worlds now we
don't know what I mean I don't know what
to tell you about it other than it's not
like here but that went that entering
into the divine presence was not
physical by consensus I mean that's just
anybody that tells you that that was a
physical thing was not now what was it I
mean I don't I don't I don't know I mean
I can't tell you what it was but the
reason that ultimate reject the
physicality of entering into the divine
presence is because it necessitates
certain beliefs that are impossible is
the hallo alle law one of them is that
it allows in a physical place God cannot
be in a physical locality because if he
was in a physical locality that
means he's muta he is in other words
something's around him there's something
outside of him which is impossible
because the hadoo de la who imam up to
how he says he has no limits God is in
finite Sheena - it means like a limit
and end infinite without end so a lot is
without limits so he cannot be contained
and and therefore - you know to enter
into the Divine Presence we don't know
what that means
I can't tell you what that means we're
all going to experience it so we just
have to wait for that but it's going to
happen and it's your we believe we're
going to see God but not with the
physical eye
not with Anil fannia with a nutbar piya
with the eight eternal eye the eye that
is able to witness the divine reality
and the anima say it's B let your heart
that you know there's no you don't see
God in any hotter sense you don't it's
it's it's a it's beyond company mala I
know lots
I mean if Jenna is what the eye has
never seen will a genuine semi had and
no ear has ever heard when a hotter a la
poly be better and it never occurred to
the human being that's Jenna so what is
God I mean if that's just Jenna that's
God's creation what is God because jenna
is what no eye has seen what no ear has
heard and what never occurred to the
human heart so when you know God is you
know an Angelina Iraqi adraka will hold
if Acuna Scirocco the same that Walker
said our inability to understand God is
our understanding of God and to speak
about the essence of God is to fall into
shark
well because language is is limited I
mean when we speak in language even
language most of language is metaphor
even though we don't think about it most
of language when we speak we're using
metaphors constantly but we don't think
about them as metaphors because language
is symbolic language is expressing
things that are not really language
right I mean when I talk to you about I
saw a beautiful tree today
alright you know what a tree is but you
know that there's a whole branch of
philosophy that argues there's no such
thing as a tree because trees aren't no
tree is like any other trees so is there
a category of trees in reality and we're
just lumping them all together because
they look alike and that's what we do
with humans right but is there really
something called humanity there's a
whole bunch of individuals out there but
can we lump us all together and call us
humanity because that's a category but
its language it's limited so all of
language has its really gross
limitations in expression of how we're
going to talk about things and that's
why so much of this is metaphor
it's just the nature of language and
reality and when you talk about God I
mean you know Rumi says that that really
says theologians are like chaperones
they're just there to make sure nothing
haram happens with the lover and the
beloved you know but but you know in the
end of the day the Prophet SAW lies in
him you know he was in a state of divine
witnessing which I had no I mean say no
and he said I never saw anything except
I
saw Allah before it in it and after it
mean he didn't mean that physically that
he saw God but he saw whatever tidge nd
was there he saw it because the Taj
India tour had you know what they called
theophanies in in English you know a
Thea a theophany is like that in in
Arabic it's called Atta gently
which is how God expresses himself in
the world it's a manifestation of the
divine in the world the world is not the
divine but the world cannot exist
without the divine it's the mirror yeah
and we're the pupil we you know God is
contemplating himself through us but
that you know there's no there's no
we're not God I mean that's a Hyundai
love we're not that's we're not
pantheous or Penn anthias or you know
but we do we do believe that language is
limited you know that's why you know the
Quran has so many meanings it's just
endless meanings because of the nature
of language and the Quran is the richest
language and anybody who really studies
Arabic language will increasingly
realize that about the Quran you know
there's just endless possibility so but
the point is is that that rejection of
physicality even though the language you
him will Kunlun ulsan Ohama Tesh mija a
will who one is warm turns out onesa
Warrenton seha a will a widow for would
warrant and zahana
hmm you know every every text that in
any way indicates anthropomorphism
either interpreted metaphorically which
is the opinion of later muta kalamoon
the earlier opinion which i think is the
sound sound us and that's the one I
prefer is oh for well you know just
leave it to God don't don't say you know
what it mean just it doesn't mean what
it appears to mean
which is called taut wheel is Madi as
opposed to that wheel tough ceiling
mm-hmm anakata
[Music]
well yeah racism is a major human
problem you know still and Muslims are
certainly not exempt from racism there's
different types of racism in the Muslim
world than say in in in the West
I mean Muslims have never had really a
color racism it's much more about tribe
and clan and family and you know and
also now like for instance the Arabs
some of the Arabs might look down on say
Pakistanis or South Asians but there was
a time when it was quite the opposite
you know I mean the South Asians were up
on the top and then again that's about
power and that's the nature of the world
that's why the world is a kind of
uninteresting place from that
perspective because so much of the world
is about power and that's why like
Bernie Madoff is such a wonderful gift
to humanity
you know because Bernie Madoff to me
once you understand Bernie Madoff you
can never take the world seriously you
know because Bernie Madoff was on he was
the head of several charitable
foundations you know he was lecturing on
ethics you know he was the head of
yeshiva Business School and he stole
their whole endowment and he had plaques
of honors I mean that's the world the
you know the world will honor the most
dishonorable and contemptible people
because the world is about appearances
and not about
reality and it's very easy to fool
people in the world because people are
generally naive and they're generally
simple and that's why the venal people
and the worst types of people in the
world get along very well in the world
you know for however long they get along
I mean Bernie did quite well for quite
some time and his wife even got off with
I think two and a half million dollars
or something and but she didn't know
anything about it of course I mean that
he'd stole billions ollars I mean my
wife knows everything about everything I
make and everything so and he had one
accountant he had one CPA and it's a lot
and that CPA I didn't know anything
about it either he was shocked as
everybody else
Bernie sons were shocked even though he
set him up in business everybody shocked
all of Bernie's best friends is one of
his closest friends that I can't believe
it he was one of the nicest guys ever
knew you know I mean that's just dunya
so you know at a certain point I mean
that the thing about it is and this is
it I'm going to tell you the truth
you're a young man like I've been around
long enough to know something we're
aliens really this is not our planet
we're just here for a short time it's
it's like a it's like a prison that
you've been put in and behave well and
you'll get off with good behavior really
just behave well but ignore the other
inmates really because it's it's crazy
and there's a lot of nutcase people out
there and prison makes people mad in
some ways do you know so you just have
to you know your mom addict said and
this is one of my favorite statements
that I've ever heard and this is worth
the whole sitting through this whole
lecture for this really it is mo Matic
said I knew a people a dr. Coleman you
know I
I experienced a people who had no faults
and they preoccupied theirselves with
faults of others and God gave them
faults and he said and I knew another
people who had faults and they pre
occupied themselves with purifying their
faults and ignored the fault of others
and God removed their faults so I think
the best thing for you is not to be that
and to to just be the witness you know
we're shuhada at a nest that that's what
the quran told us to be witnesses unto
mankind and if you're really a true
witness then you don't reflect that if
other people reflect that there's
nothing you can do about that other than
be a true witness to somebody who is not
a racist or who's not a and and just
watch yourself because we all have it
I mean there's people you know there's
been sociological studies of white
people in this culture where they had
had them interview different people with
the same degrees and everything and but
there have a black and Hispanic and a
white and they would their syntax would
change when they when they were talking
with the black people their syntax would
change because there's just sociological
assumptions that are really hard to
break in people so racism is very subtle
and it manifests in a lot of different
ways and and everybody's carrying around
baggage and everybody's had their time
at being on top you know
the blacks have been on top in human
history you know the Arabs were on top and him in history the whites were on the bottom for a long time and the Irish still are so you know their time will come George Bernard Shaw said I want to be in Ireland when the end of time comes because everything happens fifty years later in Ireland.
It's time for Isha I think
VIDEO 2
the handle down salatu salam wanna see
they know what have even a cylinder on
and he was a happy woman today only i
sin and idiot hey ami Dean Aloha murder
in mallanna no madam tonight I can't
anymore Hakeem along I am the man fair
enough Anna be mad Anton was in the
ilknur alongside enigmatic one shot
Elena put together than enjoy daddy what
a crumb or salad of Madison the Mohammed
wanna edit Quran what I hold of an hour
what I never had an Italian and I handle
the the subject of tawheed is probably
the single it is the single most
important subject for Muslims to to have
some level of knowledge of I've been
accused of saying that you can learn to
heed in 10 minutes and I think I'll
explain what I meant by that basic
tawheed is is very simple a person can
say la ilaha illallah muhammad rasool
allah and there there Muslim because
Laila hey Lala can be explained very
quickly what exactly it means Lam Abood
be happen Sawalha there's nothing in
reality worthy of worship except Allah
lamb Abood and be happen there's nothing
worshiped in truth except Allah
Leila Heil Allah there is no God except
Allah there's no God except the one true
God that basic understanding is that's
how you get into Islam so from that
point of view it's very quick that's why
there's a Sahabi that said Shahada
that's all he did he did never prayed or
fast it and he went into a battle and he
was killed and he's saying
was for being the Sahabi that died and
went to paradise with her without ever
having prayed or fasted but he said
lately a lot now the Arabs the
pre-islamic Arabs knew Arabic so they
knew what Len if he legends meant like
they didn't have that term for it that's
a grammatical term that came later but
they knew when you have la followed by
an era that's mom soul but they didn't
have those terms either those are
grammatical terms but but they knew what
it was they knew when you have a Fatah
even though they didn't called maan soup
they knew LAN la illaha not la la una
because that changes the meaning that
Eli own la ilaha Neffe little Jin's
negates anything of what follows Allah
is most Athena it's an exception so in
the in the fundamental creed of Islam
you have a negation and an affirmation
the first thing children learn to do is
negate that's why they say let the first
word most kids learn that no because
negation is part of asserting something
one way to assert something is to negate
but the affirmation which follows
negation is done through an exception so
there is no God except Allah and Allah
subhanAllah Dianna the word Allah is a
Semitic word the the Hebrew said l-like
jibra eel eel Elohim is from the same
root yellow which is the Aramaic yellow
was the only Aramaic that's left in the
gospel is Eloi Eloi Lema Lema
sabachthani and that's the only thing in
the gospel from that language which was
probably the language that a scientist
and him spoke so Allah is a proper name
for
a loss of hand with data so when we wait
when we embark on to ahed there are
certain prerequisites the first thing
people here in Charlotte are what are
called to lobulated seekers of knowledge
and seeking knowledge is one of the
highest things that you can do the
prophets Eliza time said at Bath manhood
you had to seek knowledge is actually
jihad and he also said that with a
character who just doing what Accra is
to SPEA it's like saying subhanAllah so
when you're actually reviewing your
classes your notes and things that is
dhikr of Allah subhana WA Ta'ala and the
Prophet said in the memory to my lima I
was only sent to teach people and he's a
teacher
he also said Salah why he said I'm that
more a luminous I'll hire the people
that teach people good get the reward of
the people they teach what am class
women many lethality and it doesn't
diminish from the ward of the one doing
it and that's why that that goes on
until the end of time so if everything
that every Muslim has ever done of good
goes back to the prophets Elias and
because they do it with that Nia and the
Prophet taught them Nia the Prophet
taught us will do he taught us prayer he
taught us to heed he taught us all these
things so everybody that's ever learned
that until the end of time has that
reward goes back to the Prophet SAW time
it goes back to the teachers and one of
the blessings of this tradition is the
chain of narration the chain of
transmission that people learn things
based on these chains so we're all links
in the chain and whoever's teaching
something that's learned it from a
teacher who learned it from a teacher
who learned it from a teacher goes back
to like in the case of this book Imam
Ali's book it goes back to Imam at the
Howey but Imam to how we learned
from his mother woman mezzanine Omaha
via Omaha we Iman Meza nice sister she's
also called hooked and Elmo's any and he
learned from his uncle amendment was any
one of the great Japanese scholars and
imam moussa he learned from Imam Shafi
imam shafi'i learned from imam malik
imam addict learned from Nana I learned
from even Omar even omar learned from
The Messenger of Allah so the chain
even among how he the chain is unbroken
it all goes back to the prophets Elijah
them so that that's the blessing of the
is net the prophets Allah serum also
said that in al Maleh Akata latardo as
neha Taha Leah palpable in real on beam
is now that even the Angels put their
wings down for the seeker of knowledge
out of joy for what they're seeking
seeking knowledge the Prophet Elias Adam
also said that man palpable Elma man
terrible Elma Paulo para but memorable
and Melinda he tell Jenna to fear Allah
be he woman palpable marcia tov an ROV
therapy he you know that if you if
you're seeking knowledge paradise is
seeking you if you're seeking knowledge
for allah's sake and if you're seeking
disobedience the fire is seeking you and
the prophets allah i am also the quran
tells us Pharaoh ala decree in
contemplate our Moon as the people knows
if you don't know and knowledge is there
are different types of knowledge one of
one one of the basic aspects of
knowledge which is it's not dialogical
it's
didactical you the didactic that you
there's information somebody studies
grammar then they teach grammar it's
something you learn so in the Zaidan
baba i'm
you know that that's if we're going to
parse that sentence you have to learn
what in that is what it does to a noun
like Zaidan so it's Munsell because of
in and then you learn baba is a feral
and it's moving on the Fatah because
it's a feral Molly and then you learn
that Imran is Munsell because this
mother gonna be that's that's something
that you learn and that needs to be
taught there's not a lot of discussion
you can ask questions like why did
they'd hit alma and you can ask that
question i actually told the mufti of
egypt that the problem in the arab world
is not going to stop until they change
their grammatical sentences that they
teach little kids because it's always
eight hit dhamma and you know I said in
the West we've gotten you know Dixie's
Jane which is another problem you know
but anyway so the that's a knowledge you
know and either you know it or you don't
know it this as simple as that
and so it's information now in in
al-qaeda there's certain information now
you can read it in a book like that book
there that is the Creed of Imam Appa
Howie that book you can read the book
and you might have questions and if
you're clever you know you can
understand quite a bit of it maybe all
of it and you might understand it better
than the person that translated it
that's possible so but there is a
blessing in studying with this chain
there's a blessing we believe that and
and that's part of what this tradition
is about so you can learn from books but
there's always a blessing to go through
that now at a certain point especially
with students it's good to have more
that Kaaba which is where you actually
discuss things that you're learning and
because mother Kara is a way that real
questions begin to emerge because at
biological approach to knowledge is
actually a lot better than the didactic
approach when you discuss things you get
quite a bit out of discussion so it's
very important to recognize that that
this isn't just a dump you know that you
you come and you're empty vessels and
you get filled up these things their
meanings that you need to interact with
to make them real for you so that it's
not just information and and it's
important to to think about these things
and not just to take things all of you
here almost all of you I think are
adults and you know the religion is not
real if it's not based on on a real
belief and our religion has never shied
away from questions you know it's one of
the beauties of the religion is that no
scholar ever said you can't ask that as
far as I know that there are certain
things that you know come from arrogance
and from other things that's another
thing but genuinely if somebody is
generally trying to understand something
then there's usually answers now some
things and particularly with when you
get into tawheed when you're talking
about the essence of God there's real
limitations because of the nature of
language so that's that's also
understood that this is about language I
mean the book of imam at the Howey is a
book of words it's words and the words
are about God and God is the ineffable
God is what we really can't articulate
and language fall short of speaking
about God so before we get into that I
want to preface this by what are called
the Madadi in Nevada a co-defendant
ishara al had the one mobile summit
amara that the the foundation of all
knowledge is the the foundational
principles of every knowledge are 10
there's 10 foundational principles of
every knowledge
and before you start into that knowledge
it's good to know those foundational
principles the first one is called a
head which in our in the English
language we call that a definition it's
important to know the definition of what
you're studying now a definition and in
logic is something that gets to the
essence of a thing when you define
something you have to define it
essentially and a definition should be
inclusive and exclusive it should be
include everything that that thing is
and should exclude everything that it
isn't that's that's a real proper
definition so you know to give me an
example of this the logician say that a
human being is a rational animal human
beings are animals but they're rational
animals and that is a definition because
it gets to the essence of what a human
being is to be human is to be an animal
but also to be rational to be sapien
shal to be an animal that has intellect
the ability to reason other animals
don't have that so it excludes the
irrational it excludes the the animals
that are in an instinct that are working
on instinct and and then you have the
the mold WA which is the subject matter
what that thing is about and then you
have the thumb rot which is the fruit
what's the benefit of that thing well
fun little hole and then you have the
the virtue of that thing why that thing
should be learned because not all
knowledge should be learned there's some
knowledge --is that are superfluous
there's some knowledge --is that are a
complete waste of time
um there's you know astrology is a
knowledge it's a you can study astrology
and it's a knowledge but it's a waste of
time
alchemy is a type of knowledge also it's
a waste of time
so there our knowledge is out there and
that's why the Prophet said Allah
homogeneous arukadhimon nephew and you
know I ask you for beneficial knowledge
knowledge that benefits me benefits me
because information there's a lot of
information out there but a lot of
information is a complete waste of time
and I think most of us are filled with
trivia that I personally would like
those parts of my brain that have been
occupied by that trivia back but it's
it's something that unfortunately you
know we're stuck with that like
commercial jingles that you can never
get out of your head I mean I watched a
woman literally dying of lung cancer
saying a Chesterfield jingle which was
an old kind of cigarette back in the 40s
or something and she was cursing she
said those liars and she was literally
dying you know in the hospital but she
had that jingle that she heard when she
probably first starts smoking cigarettes
so there's a lot of things that we know
that are just unfortunate but this is
not I mean this is an incredibly
fruitful thing and so knowing it's
virtue is knowing why it's worthy of our
time and our consideration when is
spittoon and then knowing what what what
it's what it's relates to you know what
in other words what it's associated with
what a while there and who is the first
one that made that science what is
smallest him dad or hook Machado and
then to know its name because every
knowledge has an name or it has several
names to know its esteem dad is to know
what that knowledge is deriving its
principles and its facts or its opinions
because there's knowledge is opinion
also it's not just fact sound opinion
and what it's deriving them from what
are the sources of that knowledge
distant that walk machete and to know
the legal ruling of that knowledge to
know the legal ruling what is the ruling
of that knowledge is it for dying
is it for casaya and then we'll Masato
Bardo who bid bobby Activa and then to
know the mesial so the subject is what
it's talking about the mesial are the
details of of those things what it's
investigating so and then in other words
the topics because it is between subject
and topic so the mesial are the topics
and then he says Minh has a man Daryl
Jim yang has a sharafa if you know all
these things then you've attained an
honorable rank so anyway that's those
are called the my body and eye shadow so
in terms of tawheed the the definition
of it is it is the science that
investigates the nature of God and the
nature of prophecy and the nature of
eschatology in other words the last
things so it it it looks at the nature
of God the magia of God the nature of
prophets and and what are called the
summit yet those things that have been
revealed and the end and relate to the
unseen matters that we don't really know
about and then the subject matter of the
is the subject matter is the the the
essence of God the attributes of God and
the the essence of prophets and the
attributes of prophets and then the the
articles of faith and the Kitab you know
which is part of that and then the the
fit or the virtue the benefit the FATA
of it is that it protects you from
having mistakes in your understanding
about allah subhanaw taala
for instance there are people that think
that the universe is eternal and inta
heed the the quran is very clear that a
las pedir ASIMO at the up he originated
the heavens in the earth without any
prior pattern that's what vidya means an
originator that is working that is
bringing something into the world
without any prior pattern on a lady myth
had in mu Spock and then he's also
called father Usama at Ewood autumn the
one who brought forth the heavens in the
earth he's horrible somehow at you but
all he's he's al baddie he's in more so
well so the hot up is the one that
brings it into existence out of nothing
the baddie is the one that fashions it
and then the misawa is the one that
forms it into the forms that it takes
so the Allah subhana WA Ta'ala has
formed creation for instance the there's
people that that deny design which is
pure it's that is co far like to deny
design is co far this is as simple as
that if you say there's this is all
randomness and there's no real design
here that that is the essence of it's
such a denial of what is so clearly
obvious no matter what mechanisms are
being used to bring about the forms that
exist in the world the idea of denying
design that there is design here and
design necessitates a designer so the
benefit of tawheed is to know
the the correct things about God and
about the prophets so to know for
instance that the prophets are
impeccable they don't they don't there's
a difference of opinion about whether
they can do minor sins what are called
venial sins in Christianity there's a
difference of opinion but the dominant
thing is is that they don't even do that
that there's and and this is why there's
a extensive literature in our tradition
explaining all of the things that appear
to be peccadilloes or appear to be minor
infractions of the of the prophets
you'll find that in the literature
explaining like that Ibrahim a DCM did
not lie when he said you know the big
one did it because he used his thumb
pointing with his thumb things like that
I mean sometimes you know they they go
to quite interesting links to prove that
point but DM the idea of the prophets
doing anything major is absolutely
completely unacceptable so learning that
into heat learning also what a prophet
is like the nature of a prophet learning
that the prophets can get sick but they
can't have illnesses that would make
them abhorrent to the people that they
were sent to so for instance Ayub in the
Islamic tradition job his illnesses are
not illnesses that the people were
disgusted by they were actually internal
sicknesses the people couldn't see them
not those are how that's one aspect of
and and but the greatest benefit of all
is that toe heed is when you understand
you have theory and practice when you
understand real toe he'd theoretically
for instance that allows annually may
you deed he does whatever he wants
that Allah subhanAllah
cannot oppress his servants because of
the nature of servanthood and the fact
that we are part of the Dominion of God
that the human being is created by God
and and and and Allah subhana WA Ta'ala
has complete and utter and absolute
property rights over the human being
it's his MOOC and you are man Luke you
know you're a possession of God and so
whatever God wants to do to you if he
wants to give you the worst disease
imaginable Allah you know God forbid
that it's not wrong God can do whatever
he wants he can give you a joyous life
he can give you a miserable life Allah
can do whatever he wants and that is the
transcendent God you know that that's
the God that is frightening it's the
dhul Jalal you know it's the god of
Jalal it's the God of tsunamis it's the
God of Holocaust it's the god of fire
it's the God of of cancer it's the God
that you know takes little children from
their loving parents that that is the
the that is that is an aspect of God and
we're in submission to that aspect of
God to the best of our ability because
that's part of God's nature but he's
also little generally will a Crom he's
the god of immense blessing he's the god
of overflowing bounty and and he's the
god who hides his bounty in his terror
he's a God who hides his blessings in
his tribulations and so learning those
things helps us deal with the
vicissitudes of time with the calamities
of our lives with the difficulties and
then finding out for instance that the
prophets have the greatest tests because
nobody whoever loses a child can can
feel anything but consolation when they
learn that the Prophet Ison buried all
of his children except for one so the
best of creation had all of his children
taken from him and yet he never
complained even though he wept he wept
when he lost his children we know that
is in the Hadees but he never complained
and he said God does not take you to
account for your eyes in other words for
your grief but he takes you to account
for what you say like why did God do
this to me so that's one of the benefits
is learning the the theory and then
beginning to exercise the theory in the
laboratory of life because this science
is really about being out there in the
world and it's the the father the virtue
of the science has the highest it's the
highest of Sciences some of the elements
a ship is over but because focus how you
worship Allah
but till he'd generally is considered to
be the highest I mean the mythically
moon in the fokaha debate on this but
because the thai look of this science in
other words the relationship is with the
nature of god and that is the highest
thing that humans can conceive of it has
the highest virtue so this is the fact
the Nisswa is to the enormous area it's
it's it's related to the sciences of
Islam of Islamic law and it's part of of
that science the water the one who who
formulated this science is first and
foremost we believe it's allah subhanaw
taala through the Quran because the
Quran is a revelation that tells us
about the nature of God it tells us that
Fadiman who la ilaha illaallah you know
know that there's no god but allah you
know Allah subhana WA Ta'ala tells us
who Allah who I had know that God is one
he tells us that he is the creator of
the heavens of the earth
he tells us that
that that he is carnival by daddy that
he is in complete control and overwhelms
his servants with his idea he tells us
he's a lion that he's the sustainer of
the heavens and the earth so much of the
Piranha Clara t'v is about God if you
ever have a red-letter Quran that has
the names of Allah in red you can see
how much of the Quran is about a lot of
behin over to Anna and in essence it's
all about a lots of behind Matata
because even when it's about the
prophets and there's tribulations it's
still about the call to Allah Subhan
Allah Tala
so knowing that it is it's it's a it is
formulated by God himself in the Quran
but then it's also the prophets lyceum
is the one that gave us this so by Maj
as this is by not in reality because in
reality God is the one that gave us the
knowledge of his nature but he the means
is the prophets lies in him and then by
extension if the the the great
formulators of this science are are
really three three men but hasn't had a
shoddy is one of them and he is a fourth
century scholar who was one of the great
moretz light scholars and then he made
Toba from that and he became the great
advocate of the what's called a
hallucinogen which i'm going to get into
in a moment but albert hasanat ashati is
a very maligned scholar of late
historically he was recognized by
everybody as being one of the great
imams i mean even even Tamiya is very
clear in his praise of abu hassan at
ashati so when people attack the HIDs
today it's very odd for people that know
the islamic tradition
to hear that it doesn't mean that there
there weren't groups that were opposed
historically but they were never in
numbers large enough to really warrant
any you know serious consideration and
then the other one is a woman sort of
Matthew DD who was in what's now
Afghanistan he was from there and they
were living at approximately the same
time and then the third one is is
probably Imam at the Howey
now generally and what I was taught by a
lot of my teachers was that the the
people of how are the UH shaadi in the
Matuidi and and and everybody else's is
off but I think it's undeniable that
there is a third group of people that
are the thirty people and and I think
it's it's important to acknowledge that
because it's not really fair to isolate
that group and say that somehow they're
not part of the tradition because they
are and one of the great examples of
that is given a blood bottle and the
onnum of the Marathi alone very few of
them were uh shot ease it was called the
oboe bucket had been an auto be who
brought the ashati meth-head to Morocco
and to and Lucia but prior to that they
were more a thirty in their approach and
they tended to really not like as what
what is termed sometimes in English
speculative theology or column so
dialectical theology but it's important
to distinguish between the Etheria who
are the people of a thought and stick to
the the text without really bringing in
what are called the octet or the
rational sciences to buttress the the
the theology those people were not moja
sima they were not literalists they were
not people that thought
that certain verses in the Quran were to
be taken literally they understood those
verses did not mean what what they
outwardly were saying but they were not
going to say what they meant they really
left it to Newt Minow Bajada Murad Allah
we believe in him according to what God
says about them and that is also a
position within the ashati and the
maturity the schools also so that's not
just the earth ADIZ but that is the
early scholars and some of the later
scholars from those schools so when we
study Creed we have to understand that
Creed develops out of problems when the
Prophet slicing them came he was not a
theologian in that he didn't come with
this systematic theology he came with a
truth about God that God is one and the
proton has a theology in it but the
Prophet SAW I sent him did not bring a
type of creed that's formulated the way
they are now this came later and the
Sahaba were people that were in such a
powerful experience 'el Islam they were
living these truths they were Imam Adi
all of the Ilan who said that I never
saw anything but except that I saw God
before it after it and in it in other
words that he was witnessing the a file
of God you know the acts of God in
creation the idea that no leaf falls
without the knowledge of God so being
aware of God in that way in a very real
presence that was very much how these
people were and so they weren't going to
debate things and and they just weren't
interested in that
so when when the Muslims came up against
the Christians who had a very profound
theological tradition because
Christianity has much more emphasis on
theology than it does on law whereas the
Jewish and the Muslim traditions have
been more focused on law on fill so when
they came up against the Christians in
Syria and Iraq and Egypt suddenly they
were asking them questions they'd never
been asked before like the Quran says
that Jesus is is the Kalima the you know
the Word of God which in greek is logos
and in the Gospel of John it says in the
beginning was the word the logos and the
Word was with God in the word what and
the Word was God so does that mean that
Jesus is the logos in other words is he
the Eternal Word of God and so nobody
ever thought about that and then they
said and when you say the puranas Kodama
law does that mean that the Quran is the
logos in other words is the Quran
created or is it uncreated nobody had
ever asked him these questions and so
suddenly they were forced to think about
things that they hadn't thought about
before
hence theology because that is the means
by which they were able to really come
to some conclusions about these Shu
bohat because these are obfuscation z'
that come in to the teaching that create
problems in the hearts of people and the
resolution of the problems comes through
working through these problems and
coming to conclusions about them and
this is what the motorcade lee moon did
this is what the theologians did and and
they created creeds an imam at the
howie's creed is one of the earliest
creeds abu hanifa there's a Creed that's
attributed to him that proceeds this and
there's a debate a big debate about
whether he acts
you wrote it or not but Imam at the how
he's definitely in the line of that
Creed among how his Creed is almost
identical to about Hassan and Ishod his
Creed they differ on four points or
crazy Marzuki and that's it
our Hassan Abu Mansour and Matuidi whose
Creed is articulated in the Nessa fiha
is also very similar he differs on
certain things and there's some
interesting differences and their
differences that are insoluble in that
you're not going to come to some kind of
not going to resolve these problems so
they're just there and they are what
they are
so having said that the you know the the
the founders of these Creed's are are
called the founders of of this science
as well now oblah Hassan Elijah Adi was
very fortunate in having an absolute
genius student of a bucket or bottle Ani
who is probably one of the greatest
intellects in human history I mean
anybody that really looks at his his
work and his genius would have to come
to that conclusion and and he really I
mean he he in essence is is really one
of the saviors of Islam because at the
time when the massive onslaught of
Hellenistic rationalism was coming when
there were just so many a sex and and he
was refuting all these people with just
really extraordinary brilliance and
intellect and and and one of the things
that is important to understand about
these Creed's is that people that attack
them and I can really safely say this
almost have never studied them
and I found this consistently what they
do is they read their teachers who quote
these people and then they attack them
from within their own frames of
reference and they rarely actually study
because when you say that oh this is a
bit what is a bid at exactly you show me
where the bid at is in and and they'll
say well it's a bit out to say this or
that for instance it's a bit odd to say
that the most half is not the Kurama law
which is a shoddy position that when you
say Kurama law about the quran itself
the most half that's why the muslims
differentiate between most half and
quran right the we call the most half is
the copy of the Quran it's called a
must-have and we use it when we say
Quran we're really saying it like
magazine so but when we say the Quran
what is the Quran the Quran is caramel
aroma loop the uncreated word of Allah
in the macaron pidemo mafia here we're
at a khadeem oh what an animal what
Allah Arabic Allah no but I don't know
it terrible you know when the the the
Quran is the the word of Allah it
doesn't have syntactical precedents and
anticipate it doesn't have land you know
articulation it doesn't have Arab
inflection it doesn't have part or
universals or particular is Kulu allah
dhu tinta sabah because all of these
things are created by their nature
Hakone elma he mocked essa work account
Kony and me ran amok decibel like saying
God has acquired his knowledge so when
you say the Quran the most half is Quran
Allah we say that out of Edom
because you don't want to say it's not
the quran allah that's not the kind of
allah you can't say that it is a
parabola but it's not the konami law
that is a role model because it is in
the world it has paper it has ink on
paper
it's language that came into the world
whereas the the Kalama law that is
Kadeem is the meanings that allah
subhana wa ta'ala articulated in his
essence it's the meaning that Allah
subhana WA Ta'ala has in his essence so
that's an example of solving a problem
where these people were saying are you
saying that's uncreated and if you say
well yeah that's uncreated then you you
have a religion of people that think
things that are created are uncreated
but if you say that it's the Perron
is uncreated essentially then what
you're saying is an attribute of god is
on is is created the sefa of a lot
because kadam is all sefa of the motor
kingdom the the speech is an attribute
of the speaker the one speaking and so
if you say that his attribute is created
then you're saying that Allah has
created that there's an attribute that's
created and that creates a problem and
so this is this is in essence what these
men were dealing with and they did an
extraordinary job when you get to the
the free will and the determination you
know our human beings determined or are
they free these are paradoxical problems
that have befuddled all the religious
traditions that deal with these subjects
but if you look at them the way they
resolve them they're quite stunning
they're still limited by language but
they're still quite stunning and and
that so when we talk about the founder
we're talking first and foremost that
it's God that gave us this knowledge it
was transmitted by the Prophet slicin
but it was formulated by these great
intellects that the community was
provided with and we believe it's
providential care because the Prophet
SAW I said I'm said that this knowledge
would be protected by people in each
generation they protected and so that's
what what they've done any mama Howie is
one of the great people of that
science and that's why his Creed is so
important and then the that the name of
this is mewho is called it's called
Azula Dean it's called the Elemento he'd
it's called the LML Kalam these are
different names for this science but
generally is called Azula Dean the roots
of this religion because it's what this
religion is built upon is to heed and
this is the science of tawheed element
Kalam in the early period is a very
negative term and you will see many
statements of the early community
attacking column and these are used in
polemics modern polemics in books saying
that Kalam is evil and liquid Imam Shafi
said about Kalam look what so-and-so
said about Kalam they were talking about
the dialectical theology of the Martez
elight when they were talking about
these things they were not talking about
the refutation of the MARTA see light
which come from the Edison one genre
right and it's important to understand
that distinction so and then finally the
hook Machado is for dying it's
considered for dying on every person the
topics of it the mesial are covered in
you can see what the topics are in the
book but the the topics that are dealt
with are things like the base and right
the hold of the prophet the pool of the
Prophet what that entails the the UM
Okayama what happens on the ELMO qiyamah
what's hash are what's Nichelle
what's kadar what's the mean so these
these are the the the Messiah that it
deals with and then also like the that
the Quran is Kodama law and then so that
essentially is those are the the my body
and oshawa of this science now what I'm
going to do right now is is just
basically go through a de su knowledge
about what that means
sums are divided essentially into two
major groups the Sunni and the Shia the
Shia are historically they are the
people that supported Imam Ali in his
push for they were called Shia - Ali and
it's a historical reality he went up
against morale we are Delano and he
definitely had his support the idea that
Iman I was practicing topia for me is
hard to believe but that is a shear view
that Imam Mahdi really felt that he
should have been located immediately
after the Prophet slicin have died and
that there was great wrongs done to the
family of the prophets in him now the
Shia historically fall into different
categories the rawa field and the whole
lot of the Shia were tended to be looked
very very negative negatively by the
people of Sunnah but there were Shia
whose Teixeira was a thief and Imam Abu
Hadi relates Shia in sahih al-bukhari
and a lot of people don't know that but
there are Shia transmitters in sahibu
Hadi
so this idea that the Shia were all evil
and something like that is not an early
view of things but the ROE a field and
the people upon who feels happy Rasul
Allah those people that spoke ill or
spoke ill of aisha radi lana generally
were looked upon very negatively by the
Ummah that came to be known as the
Addison one Gemini and all I would say
is that the Shia tradition is an
alternative narrative and from within
the Shia tradition itself it's it's a
very strong argument which is why they
have very brilliant scholars and some of
them are extraordinarily well versed in
in all the sciences of islam arabic and
so from within their perspective it all
makes sense and that's why the Muslims
have never been able to really resolve
this problem there there have always
been brilliant she has scholars and
there been debates in the community and
it's just insoluble so it's best left
like that it's it's just not the the
best thing that we can have is is just a
peaceful coexistence which has happened
throughout history in many many places
the Muslims and the Sunnis and the
Shia's have lived together without
without problems in many places Allah
says a good example half the city is
Shia and the other half is Sunni and the
Shia keeps themselves the Sunnis keep to
themselves they don't hate each other
they just live their kind of separate
lives and they don't have those kind of
problems in America in particular we
should really avoid conflicts between
the Sunni and Shia I'm is really
important here that we really avoid some
of the baggage from back home that's my
view about things I'm very committed to
Sunni tradition is what I was taught
it's also makes the most sense to me
personally I mean I looked at the Shia
tradition I was interested in for during
that early period when during the the
Iranian Revolution I got interested in
it just as a phenomenon and for me
personally I've never had any allegiance
to anything other than the truth I mean
I'm just not interested in a kind of
tribal approach to religion like I'm
Benny son on there Venetia on our tribes
better than their tribe if if something
appears to me to be true right and but I
would say one thing but that this the I
had assumed that downplayed considerably
what happened and if you if you study
the history there's two versions one is
a very whitewashed history which tends
to be taught and the other is what real
happened and what really happened is
actually kind of hard to believe the
what happened to the family of the
Prophet the insurrection z' that
occurred the brutality that was directed
against them it's it's it's all history
it's not something that can people can
say did not happen it did happen
Malea Driss is a good example that who
fled from the Hejaz to morocco and
founded the idad isa delta there in
morocco which some the Moroccans tend to
claim that it was Malachy and some say
that he was actually part of the Shia
tradition so Allah Anam but from that
tradition is Adia
who are the people of northern Yemen
geographically northern Yemen's one
country now but geographically in the
northern part of Yemen you have this
idea and this idea who are called the
fibers as well these are the fibers and
sevinor's and is nicety of the twelvers
the the saadia are the closest from the
Shia community to the Addison they don't
speak ill of Abu Bakr or all model they
don't have a problem with their halifa
but they prefer imam ali over those two
and felt that he should have been the
first k dove so that's their view and
imam Ashok Ani who arguably is not as ad
he was raised as a D and he was raised
in that tradition so but he's an example
of just an incredibly brilliant scholar
so the Addison or Jamaat which is a
formula that came later how we have been
described is the people the prophetic
way and congregation so they're the
people of Sunnah and the idea is not
that the that the you know that I mean
the Sunnah the Shia have hadith and and
they in the end they follow hadith and
they have practices that they do but the
that I had a soon are the people of the
hadith methodology that that was
articulated by the great scholars of
hadith and in attempting to follow the
prophetic
just to the best and the Gemara is the
majority which the the Sun tradition is
the majority tradition so they are the
Gemara they are the majority so they're
the the congregation the prophet
sallallaahu said i'm said yet the law
him aljahmeir
the the hand of god is with the the
congregation and he said man shed the
shed the Phenom people that deviate
deviate off into it's a hellish
deviation so it was used initially to to
distinguish himself from the raffia and
the heritage the raffia are the Hulett
of the Shia the extremists from amongst
the Shia and the holidays are the people
who made tech fear of Muslims they
called other Muslims kaffir and they
they they became insurrectionist they
broke off from the civil governance the
jurist and heresy ologist shah qajar bin
Fahad bin Mohammed Ibaka daddy is Farah
Heaney is Farah he's one of the great
scholars he died in 429 but he said that
the additional Jamaat comprise 8
categories and this is very useful for
you to understand because he's one of
the early scholars for 29 is considered
from he's not from the set up some say
the set up goes up to the 5th century so
he would be included in the set of but
he's from that very early period and but
he says the first category is the group
who mastered the various aspects of
tawheed so they're the theologians of
the Addison illegitimate they know about
the new buit prophecy the eschatological
aspects of theology there and that
relate also to rewards and punishments
in the hereafter as well as of the as
the conditions of each D had so they
know how HT had is done in all of this
they have gone the route of the people
of attributes from our theologians the
people of C fat
because there the more pita nullified
the attributes of God and the Addison
affirm the attributes of God that that
that God went when he speaks about
attributes that that he does have those
attributes and that they are to be
affirmed and not nullified and and then
they're free of anthropomorphism touch
seem so they don't believe literal
things like that that God is literally
in a place or he's literally on a
physical throne things like that they
don't believe those things they say we
believe
Rockman eyelashes Toa we believe in it
you either share atamora deal at
whatever God meant by it I believe in it
but but what occurs to the mind it's
other than that because that's
impossible for God that's called that
wheel is malli the later owner Matt gave
it a tech wheel tough silly a detailed
interpretation said what it meant so
that's the position of the people who
are not anthropomorphise and then also
that jamia who for instance said that
the essence of God is everywhere it's
like a pan an theism and other groups
like the Nigeria the second category is
the Imams of jurisprudence from the two
groups of juristic reasoning and
transmission the people of hadith and
the people of right hello right are like
the hanafis an ADIZ
like the ham bodies and the and Chevys
and then the Imam addict joins between
the two so they believe in those groups
and they're free from Etta's on the type
of absolute dependence on rationalism
and also the Java which is a belief in
in determinism so they're neither
determinist nor are they people that
believe in absolute free will
they're between the two and they believe
in the raising of the graves as well as
the questioning in the grave because
there's
people that deny the questioning of the
grave they believe in the bodily
resurrection they also believe in the
reality of the intercession and the
forgiveness of all wrongs from a lot
with the exception of shit
and obviously that and we'll get into
that but that that that is people who
willingly commit shirk they affirm the
continuity of paradise for its people in
the torment of fire for the rejecters of
truth so the idea that the Paradise is
it's what they call in in scholastic
terminology AV ternal it goes on forever
although it had a beginning and they
also believed in the obligation of
congregational prayer jumar behind all
Imams so at a cinema Gemini pray behind
Imams as long as they're free of heresy
and deviation in other words bid at and
zendaya but if they're a bad person you
still pray behind them if they're a
reprobate and they confirm the
permissibility of wiping over the hoff
socks and what's important about that it
seems like a silly issue to bring up
it's even in the Creed of Imam the Howey
but the real issue was about it was
about motivated Hadees and whether the
hadith reaches the status of the Quran
because the Quran doesn't mention hope
it tells you you have to wipe the feet
but the hoof is mentioned in the hadith
and it's a motivator Hadees so the real
the reason they say and they believe in
the hope what they're really saying is
they believe that a motivator hadith has
the same value as a verse of Quran I
mean that's really the what - what
they're saying they just use that ruling
because that that's a route the Huaraz
rejected that so that was a major issue
in the early period how are they said
you can't wipe off over the socks and
then they also believe that the pre
mount pronouncement of divorce is three
times binding all right because this
this is an interesting issue that's been
raised now in modern times now they
believe that the temporary marriage is
prohibited mota is prayer
and that it
they also deem obedience to authority of
the state as an obligation as long as is
not anything that constitute agreed-upon
disobedience to Allah so they believe in
civil governance and that you actually
have to obey the state that you cannot
enter into insurrection against the
state is a really important point about
the Sunnah is that they're they're
against a holodeck view that you that
insurrection is acceptable mmm and then
and this includes the Companions of
Malek chef Rios a thorough Beneatha ibn
ABI Leila lathe thorough both or and the
Companions of a commitment humble as
well as the alibi of the literalist in
fill it includes them and all of the
other scholars who believed in the
matters of intellectual understanding
the way of the people of attributes and
did not dilute their beliefs with any
innovations of the people of heresy and
deviation the third category is those
people have mastered the science of
hadith and their various chains in
pathways that lead back to the